He won two golds at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games in the pentathlon and decathlon, but a year later the results were revoked because the “Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)”, then the United States Olympic Committee, found a violation of the rules of amateurism. yesterday, on the 110th anniversary of his triumph in the decathlon, Jim Thorpe officially got back what he had lost: for the IOC Executive Committee, in fact, the American is the only winner of the two races. In fact, already in 1982 the International Olympic Committee had taken note of what was decided by the AAU and then by the US Olympic Committee in the 1970s, returning the amateur status to Thorpe and therefore the two golds, without however removing the same recognition from those who was ranked second. Indeed, the Swede Hugo K. Wieslander had never accepted gold in the decathlon test, convinced of the legitimacy of his American rival’s victory. Same goes for the Norwegian Ferdinand Bie, runner-up in the pentathlon competition in Stockholm.
“We welcome the fact that, thanks to the great efforts of Bright Path Strong, a solution has been found. This is a truly exceptional and unique situation, which has been addressed with an extraordinary gesture of fair play by the National Olympic Committees concerned. “, declared the president of the IOC Thomas Bach.
Jim Thorpe, who died in 1953 at the age of 65, is a legend of the stars and stripes sport. He was born on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma and soon lost his parents. But he showed great talent in many sports, certainly favored by formidable physical gifts. After Olympic glory in athletics, he turned to baseball and played for six seasons in the Major League, but also amazed in the nascent NFL football. His existence unfortunately also marked by the vice of alcohol ended up in poverty: in 1951 a film about his life was released, and Burt Lancaster played him. But he didn’t cash in on anything, having already sold the film rights before.
